THE SHORE FISHES OF PERU 171 



rings of darker, the rings surrounded by pale spots. Scales on upper 

 part of sides tipped indistinctly with turquoise blue. Dorsal, anal, 

 and ventral fins dark, the dorsals mottled with light and dark gray. 

 Pectoral fin dark gray tinged with yellowish, and with one dark cross 

 bar; caudal dark. Four faint dark bars radiate from the eye; maxil- 

 lary dark gray edged with yellow. * * * The spotted phase has 

 a gray-brown color, which is paler on the lower part of the sides and 

 below. The head, body, and fins are everywhere covered with small 

 reddish brown spots." 



I have seen no specimens from Peru where it has not been taken 

 by recent collectors. It is described here (exclusive of the color) 

 from three specimens (U. S. N. M. Nos. 47481, 80252, and 101061), 

 respectively 215, 270, and 625 mm. (162, 215, and 515 mm. to base of 

 caudal) long. The smallest one is from MazatMn, Sinaloa, Mexico, 

 and is a "cotype" of M. boulengeri; the intermediate one is from a 

 tide stream at Corozal, Canal Zone (Pacific) ; and the longest one is 

 from Banderas Bay, Jalisco, Mexico. I follow Walford in considering 

 M. boulengeri Jordan and Starks a synonym of M. xenarcha. The 

 rather large number of gill rakers, the angulate outlines of the soft 

 dorsal and anal, and the scalloped or jagged margin of the caudal 

 are characteristic of this species. 



Range. — Gulf of California to the Galapagos Islands and northern 

 Peru. 



Genus PROMICROPS Poey, 1868 



Body elongate; head broad, depressed between the eyes (especially 

 in large individuals) ; preopercle with a finely serrate margin, without 

 antrorse spines; scales small, about 100 in lateral series; those in 

 lateral line with 4 to 6 radiating ridges; dorsal with 11 low spines, 

 and 15 or 16 soft rays; anal with 3 spines and 8 soft rays; ventral 

 fins inserted a little behind the pectorals. 



PROMICROPS GUTTATUS (Linnaeus) 



Perca guttata Linnaeus, 1758, p. 292, "America" (diagnosis). 



Promicrops guitatvs Jordan and Eigenmann, 1890, p. 363, pi. 42, both coasts 



of tropical America (synonymy; description; range). — Toetonese, 1939b, 



p. 292, pi. 8, Callao, Peru (synonymy; description). 



The collections studied do not contain this species. It is included 

 here solely on the record cited above by Tortonese, who had a single 

 specimen from Callao, Peru. 



This species, the only one of the genus, may be recognized from 

 the generic account. 



Range.— V>oth. coasts of tropical America. On the Atlantic coast 

 from Florida to Brazil and on the Pacific from Baja California to Peru. 



